When I Come Around

I heard you crying loud all the way across town

You've been searching for that someone

And it's me out on the prowl

As you sit around feeling sorry for yourself

Don't get lonely now

Dry your whining eyes

I'm just roaming for the moment

Chirping filled her ears and sunlight danced across her eyelids, slowly Vala opened her eyes. She blinked once, and furrowed her brow. All around the world people were waking up, and there was that bliss moment of refreshment. Then the night's events hit them and they were up and scrambling about for their keys and an explanation as to why they were late for work.

Where am I? she asked herself drastically, bolting upright. Immediately her head began to ache.

"Careful there, you took quite a shock last night," a voice said calmly. He thought for a moment and added, "Then you banged your head against a tree."

Slowly, she turned to face the source. The pounding disappeared and her eyes widened as she looked upon Sirius Black.

Questions filled her head like darkness in the Malfoy Manor after the candles have been snuffed. She was confused, but most of all, she was scared. "Where are we?" she asked anxiously, searching her surroundings for some clue. "Where are we, Sirius?" she screeched, scrambling to her feet. She banged her head against the ceiling and fell down just as quickly. Nursing her head, she noticed movement from the corner of her eye. She glanced at it, took a double take, and an explosion occurred somewhere between her lungs and her vocal cords.

Sirius leapt at her, covering her mouth with a firm hand, and wrapping his other arm around her middle. "Shhh! Want all of Hogsmeade up here? Shh…" he said, more comfortingly this time. "It's just Buckbeak," he explained. "He's a Hippogriff. Calm down… Now if I take my hand away do you promise not to scream again?"

She nodded, though her eyes were still wide with a mixture of panic and fear. He lowered his hand from her mouth and she was frightened into silence as her chest heaved in jagged breaths.

After a short length of time she managed, "Wha-what's go-going on?"

"We're in Hogsmeade," he replied quietly, moving to the mouth of the cave. Crouching and stabilizing himself on his hands, he peered out. "After you fainted, I brought you here."

She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged her legs. Resting her chin on her knees, she asked, "Why would you do that?"

He glanced back at her, saw her hysterics vanishing, and smiled a miraculously white smile.

How could his teeth possibly be that white, she inquired silently.

"Because every Malfoy and his uncle will be looking for you," he answered seriously, glimpsing out the cave one last time before bringing himself to her side and settling. "Why, I might be as generous as to say you're more popular than me… Can't have that now, can we? You know how I hate competition."

Somehow, and she would never know how, Sirius had a way of making light of any situation. He'd squeeze the situation dry for a single drop of sunlight. "No," she sighed. "Every Malfoy tracker and spy will be looking for me. Every Malfoy and his uncle will be plotting over scrolls and sipping Dark Mark Martinis." She sighed again, more heavily. "And no," she said, a weak smile flitting around her lips. "You love competition. It gives you an indescribable rush."

"Maybe," he reasoned. "But that doesn't explain why I have competition at all. I am, after all, a ruthless murderer-"

"As quoted by Rita Skeeter."

"And any reporter looking for a paycheck with two ounces of intelligence," he added.

"Well then it's lucky I'm not a reporter," she countered, turning her head to peer at him.

"No, just the wife of a Malfoy," he retorted, turning his head likewise. "Or are things different now?"

She narrowed her eyes and looked away with a scowl. "You always were a git," she muttered viciously. She sized up the Hippogriff, losing its edge in her current state of agitation. "What's the deal with this thing anyway?"

"That thing's name is Buckbeak and he's a Hippogriff."

A memory flickered in her mind. "Buckbeak…" she murmured. The beast looked up and seemed to recognize her. Immediately, she remembered. "Hagrid's Hippogriff? It lived then?" She looked to Sirius.

He stared at her, his brow wrinkling.

"I, uh… read about it in the paper," she saved, directing her gaze elsewhere.

His head tilted to one side, but soon found it best to absorb interest from something less than Vala.

The silence droned on for minutes. Both had a million questions riding their mind, but neither knew what to say.

Eventually, Vala found her voice. "Why did you run away from home?"

"It wasn't my home, nor my real family… I found that at the Potters. And you?" He glanced at her, only to redirect his gaze as quickly.

"Me too… I found mine at Remus'." Finally, she looked at him.

~+~+~+~

Billy dragged his feet, his spurs clinking lightly. He paused before the door, bowing his head. He sighed, pulled the wheat stem from his mouth, and tossed it over his shoulder. Twisting the knob and pushing the door open, he entered.

Gun shots and screaming resounded off the walls. A smile curled his lip as he clinked his way towards the hideous couch and a plopped down behind Napoleon and Seth. Typically, a thick cloud of dust would be thrown into the air, but the 1970's artifact never had time to collect it. Someone was always sitting on it, lying on it, or simply passed out on it.

It really was an ugly couch. Perhaps a few centuries back it had been the catch of the day, the cat's meow, Michael Jordan's jockstrap… It rather resembled the last with a deep crimson turned dirt maroon and the fantastic sunlight flowers turned piss yellow. The overall effect was just short of nauseating.

One would think such an antique would take away from the rest of the room, but it didn't. In a stomach wrenching way, it complimented the pasty white curtains spattered with beer and the deteriorating brown carpet. Behind the couch was a water-stained table and mismatched dining chairs. Not that anyone ever dined there, that's what the couch was for. Instead, they used the table to play Exploding Snap and roll the occasional joint. The James themselves never smoked, but several of their guests did.

The quarters might not have been so bad had someone not attempted to decorate it. Two framed pictures of a barn and a windmill hung lopsided on the wall behind the Entertainment Center--a television set propped up on two red plastic storage crates locked together by massive amounts of duct tape. Beside each picture was a candleholder bearing a red candlestick. One candle was burned halfway through and the other was cracked in the middle, it's upper half hanging limply to one side.

Few rules applied to the Crib, two namely--If it's broken, duct it! and Don't clean it up, just rub it in! The Crib was stained and dirty, held together by duct tape, and had the faint smell of a sick bed, but it was home.

Two beers sat between Napoleon and Seth, who rocked back and forth with frantic attempts to get ahead of the game. Billy reclined back, his head resting against the couch's arm and a foot hanging over the other end. He kicked off his shoes, pulled his hat down over his eyes and tried to get some shuteye.

The screeching of tires and the clicking of controllers kept him awake.

"Couldn't you play somewhere else?" Billy mumbled under his hat.

"And where do you propose we do that?" Seth asked, jerking to one side.

"The arcade?" he suggested.

"Can't," said Napoleon, his eyes glued to the game.

"And why's that?" he asked, not really interested.

"Got kicked out after Seth made some Muggle kid cry."

"Is that all?"

"Well, that and we totally destroyed Dance Dance Revolution."

"After Napoleon crashed Star Wars Pinball."

"And Seth broke Miss Pacman."

Billy sighed, sinking further into the couch. It was unnecessary to mention their luck on the owner, who was a wizard. They never had any charges pressed against them and they would never be sued simply because it was easier to repair the machines than prosecute the James Brothers. "It's beyond me why he doesn't ban you for good," he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest in an attempt to make himself comfortable.

"Old Stroker? Pfft… He likes us too much to do that," Napoleon claimed.

"'Sides, the Arcade wouldn't draw any crowds without us hanging around-"

"Destroying things," Billy added with a bite of sarcasm.

"Exactly," Seth finished, not skipping a beat.

Their game continued for an agonizing hour and a half. By that time, Billy had fallen into a light sleep.

Napoleon leaned against the couch, kicking a few empty long necks aside to stretch out his legs. "Hey, Bill?"

His snore was cut short as he jerked awake. "Huh--yeah?" His hat dropped to the floor and he looked around, blinking heavily.

"Haven't you had Watch for the last hour?"

"Huh? Uh…" he ran a hand through his hair, unsteadily sitting upright. "No."

Napoleon swung his head in the direction of his white brother. "I thought you said he had Watch, fool."

"Huh?" Seth rose his eyebrows, standing at the counter. He was pouring himself a bowl of cereal. "Oh, um… wait a minute." He tried pouring milk into his cereal, wasting one-third of the galleon. After a minute of carelessness he managed to fill the bowl up as well as cover the counter. Setting his hands in the milk-coated counter, he leaned forward and listened to the crackling of the rice krispies. Hypnotized by the sound, he didn't answer for another five minutes. Finally, he pulled away, dunked in a spoon and rested against the countertop. Eating large spoonfuls of his breakfast, he lost all recollection of the conversation.

"Seth?"

He looked up, his eyes wide and the end of a spoon sticking out of his mouth. "Hmm?"

"I thought you said Billy had Watch," he repeated patiently.

"Mmm…" he considered it for a moment, then nodded. Removing the spoon and dipping it into the bowl again, he said, "He does."

Napoleon turned to stare at Billy. "Well?"

Billy sat back. They had to find out sometime. "Can't," he attempted passively, but nerves flushed through his vowels.

"And why's that?"

"Black took over."

Seth dropped his spoon.

"You didn't track them?"

"Nope," he said, "And I don't intend on it." Scooping up his hat, he placed it on his head and grabbed his boots. He stood up and unnecessarily dusted off his jeans. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go repair some of the damage you've done." He sidestepped Napoleon and made it to the door. "If anyone needs me, I'll be at the Arcade." With a tip of his hat, he was gone.

At length, Napoleon said in amazement, "He backed down to Black."

Seth stared at his fallen item. After some time, he swooped down and picked it up. He held it at eye level, pondering over the filthiness of the floor. Deciding it wasn't bad enough to find another spoon, he breathed on it, polished off on his shirt, and resumed eating. At length, "Imagine that."

~+~+~+~

"You're not really going to eat that, are you?" Vala asked, wrinkling her nose.

Sirius was squatting, bending to look under a rock. He looked up with curious chocolate brown eyes. They made Vala hungry. He held the cricket up for her to see. "This?" he asked, shaking it a bit.

"Oh Sirius, don't-"

He raised the cricket to his mouth and made to eat it. Smiling, he lowered the struggling bug.

"I knew you wouldn't do it."

Quickly, he bent his head back and dropped the bug within.

Crunch

Vala's stomach flipped.

Crunch

Her throat heaved.

Crunch

She turned away to vomit, but her stomach was empty and she only dry-heaved.

"The trick is," he said conversationally. "Is to get them before they really start moving around because let me tell ya, it's disgusting when you go to swallow and they hop across your mouth." He smiled and finished brightly, "Figured that out the first time around."

"Oh, that's disgusting," she murmured, clutching her stomach and turning an olive green.

"No it's not, it's a good source of protein. And," he started, moving to another rock. "If you're staying here, it'd be ideal for you to pick few up yourself. That is, unless you cook."

She'd been averting her eyes in case he found another squirming entrée, but now she looked at him. "Why is that?"

"Because, then I can hunt and you can cook whatever I drag back."

"And if you don't bring anything back?"

"Souris a la Grillon!" he said richly, kissing his fingers like a French cook.

"That would be…?"

"Rat with cricket!" he translated cheerfully.

"Please tell me you're joking," she requested, looking mortified.

"Not at all."

Vala cursed under her breath and leaned against the side of the cave. She left Saxon. That was supposed to lead to her release from all ties and laws. She was supposed to be free. And now what? As soon as she breaks loose, she's bound to new rules.

"It's not fair," she voiced. "Life sucks."

A subtle sigh escaped Sirius. "I know," he said, and he said it with such understanding, such heart-felt sorrow, that her eyes shifted and locked on him. He looked up at her, and they connected.